Green Bay Packers 2021 NFL Draft Prospects to Know: OT Liam Eichenberg
By Paul Bretl
With David Bakhtiari injured, Billy Turner and Elgton Jenkins are your current starting tackles for the Green Bay Packers. While I do believe that this duo will hold up just fine, one injury and the Packers are relying on Yosh Nijman to start.
Now, could Nijman be ready for that role? Perhaps. But from the outside looking in, we’ve seen nothing to suggest that.
In a perfect world, the Packers will land an immediate starter to bolster the tackle depth, but that will also allow Jenkins to move back inside to help solidify the interior. But at a minimum, Green Bay needs to find a swing tackle for 2021, and hopefully, that player can become a starter at right tackle in 2022.
One prospect in this year’s draft who can help the Green Bay Packers accomplish the former and be a Day 1 starter is Liam Eichenberg from Notre Dame.
Eichenberg is a very experienced player, serving as Notre Dame’s starting left tackle the last three seasons with over 2,600 career snaps. Over his final two years, Eichenberg didn’t allow a single sack in nearly 1,000 pass-blocking snaps and just 23 total pressures.
As impressive as Eichenberg was in pass-pro, The Draft Network’s Kyle Crabbs called him an even “more impactful” run blocker. This past season by PFF’s grading system ($$), Eichenberg finished as the sixth-best run-blocking tackle in college football.
It’s also worth noting that while roughly 50 percent of Eichenberg’s career snaps came as a zone blocker, as Crabbs also mentions, he believes that Eichenberg will be at his best in a gap/power heavy running scheme. The Packers, of course, run a wide zone scheme under LaFleur.
There may be tackles with more impressive traits — although he did post a RAS of 8.53 — but Eichenberg has a high floor, and in taking him, you know what you’re getting. PFF called him a “well-oiled machine” when it comes to his technique.
For more on Eichenberg’s game, here is what else Crabbs had to say about him in his pre-draft report:
"“Liam Eichenberg is an NFL-ready starting left tackle who should find assimilating to the pro game fairly easy. Eichenberg isn’t the most fleet of foot and speed rushers with wide angles can test him off the edge, but sound fundamentals and footwork should have him positioned to contest such challenges with a fair amount of success. The ceiling for Eichenberg as a prospect is tied to the offensive philosophies of his future coach.He is best when releasing vertically at the snap in the run game and either double-teaming to the second level or stepping down to collapse and create a soft edge. Gap/power teams will unleash his power at the point of attack effectively and he’ll do well to create creases as guards pull or tight ends insert to lead the ball carrier through his gap.“"
In what is a deep offensive tackle class, The Draft Network is higher on Eichenberg than PFF is, ranking him as their sixth-best tackle and 34th overall prospect. Meanwhile, PFF has him as the 11th tackle on their board and the 52nd rated player in this class.
The NFL Mock Draft Database has a second-round projection on Eichenberg, with about 20 percent of the mock drafts in their system having him as a first-round pick. If the Green Bay Packers want Eichenberg, they’ll have to take him at 29, or possibly, they could trade back into Round 2 and potentially still land him.
Even when compared to other offensive linemen, this certainly wouldn’t be a flashy selection by Green Bay. Eichenberg may never be a perennial Pro-Bowler, but he’s someone who can hold down the tackle position in Green Bay for the next decade and provide that incredibly valuable stability.